Thank you for the amazing support so far! And seriously, how can I not update weekly with so many reviews coming in after a week of update? THANK YOU SO MUCH MINNA-SAMA~! *hugs*
DISCLAIMER: I WISH I Own Prince of Tennis
…
CHAPTER XII: The Road
BUS TO TOKYO
Echizen Reina stared at the window and purposely tuned out her seatmate, as well as the curious stares of the people around. With her hearing she could tell they were saying some supposedly flattering things like 'That girl's pretty' and 'they look cool together!' etcetera etcetera.
But as far as she knew something she was born with was nothing to be proud about. Most of the time, it was even troublesome. Unless it was tennis skills, which she honed as she grew up as well. She was especially thankful for being given that talent.
Leaving that line of thought, she proceeded to rummage her brain for new ones—new and more interesting ones, to be precise, since it was getting annoyingly harder to ignore the noisy silver-head beside her.
She managed to tune him out all the way until they went down the bus. She nonchalantly went down the bus's staircase.
Tap Tap Ta—
Choo!
She felt something soft on her cheek followed by a few muffled squeals.
Her eyes widened, and the moment she realized what he just did, she glowered and—
BAM!
…Placed a clean punch on his face.
THUMP!
"Ouch!"
She stared at him as his arse sat on the cold asphalt pavement in anger. He looked distraught though and he was holding his cheek.
"O-OI!" He yelled as she turned his back on him and started walking away. Darned bastard seemed to have nothing better to do than kiss people he blackmailed on the cheek in public. She'd rather not be seen with him.
She stomped away hoping for some time alone. Sadly, Niou did not ace those reflex and speed training for no reason.
"Echiiizeeeeen~" he called, then walking beside her, his accursed long legs ensuring it was not much of a challenge to keep the same pace as hers. "C'mon. You were ignoring me so I did all I could!"
She heard him pause. For about a second. "It was your fault, you know."
She stopped as well, turned, and sent him a very strong glare. It made him freeze, to a point, and she started stomping away again.
"Oiiiii!" She kept ignoring him.
"Echizen-chan~" Ignore.
"Mighty bodyguard-chan~" Ignore
"Hmph, don't tell me that was the first time a guy kissed your cheek." Her eyes twitched. Suddenly, she remembered that night… when Seichi 'slipped'. She blushed several shades of red. She didn't notice her feet stopped moving, again.
Niou ran to stand in front of her and his eyes widened immediately at what he saw. "WHOA!" He exclaimed in amusement. "I—pfft—I can't believe it! HAHAHA"
He stopped and wore a teasing grin. "…Is it the bocchama?"
Silence
His eyes widened even more in disbelief. "OHMYGODITIS!"
"…"
"Pfft—HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"U-Urusai." But he kept laughing. Her eyes twitched. "If you don't stop I'd freaking punch you again."
Niou sweat dropped, but his teasing smile never left. Probably never would. "Hai, Hai~"
He let out a scoff again when he was walking a tad ahead of her. "Kukuku~ you androgynous kids suit each other." He cackled. She flinched and gestured to run after him to give him a beating, when—poof! He was already out of her sight.
She looked to her left, then to her right, no sign of the tricky bastard. But instead of wasting any more energy in him Reina only sighed to calm herself down. It didn't take long for her to completely compose herself.
She continued walking at a normal pace, soon turning her sights to the bright clouds.
She wondered what he was doing right now. Did he realize she was no longer home? Probably not.
Reina let out one more deep breath before realizing she was touching her cheek. The one Seichi kissed, that was. She blushed further and found her eyes stuck to the pavements.
RINGRINGRINGRINGRING
Her ears perked at the sound of the bell, urgently trying to get her attention, but she was too distracted. When it got close enough for even her loud hearing to register the danger, she lazily just looked behind her.
It was a bike. As cliché as it might sound, it was running directly towards her.
Mentally, she sighed. Again. In exasperation.
Well, she was in trouble wasn't she?
YUKIMURA RESIDENCE
CLANK!
A small clank made by a small piece of metal abruptly resounded across the room. Yukimura stared at it. It was an expensive pen, and it would still work. After all, it was a top-of-the-line piece of art.
In any case, he just felt like making it roll forcefully to the wall. He then stared back at his paperwork. It had been an hour since he sat there and barely any work had been done.
He was much too distracted.
He tapped his finger on the wooden study table that probably cost at what most people would call a fortune, unconsciously. He realized this was going nowhere so, after a sigh, he decided to use his last line of defense to sanity. He pulled back a closet, the one second to the bottom, and looked at the notebooks and pens neatly arranged in its floor.
He placed his hand inside and clicked a hidden lever and he pulled the rest of the drawer out, revealing a think hard-bound notebook that had intricate designs adorning its cover. He lifted it up and neatly placed it on top of his table, he opened it and realized he was only half-way done that notebook.
He was impressed, really, he had been writing at it for four years now although not quite everyday he wrote there quite often—especially after he got it from his mother, and then… when Ryoma came to his life. He let out a breath before he started writing everything notable that happened so far. He never started with a 'dear diary', not after the first entry. It simply didn't sound right.
He knew that once he read through them, he'd feel very embarrassed. But nevertheless, it became a habit to keep things out of his mind—especially, thoughts that he seriously did not like.
He left off, it seemed, with the training regime he created. Of course he puts that on official papers, considering he would never read through this diary, but he still found himself wanting to write everything related to tennis in. And Ryoma—that darned boy that kept plaguing his thoughts.
Ryoma. Ryoma. Ryoma.
What annoying name, he started out for reasons he partly didn't understand. He ranted about the lies his own bodyguard committed and how a person who he just met found out way before him, his own master. He didn't realize he ranted about that, and that alone, for a whole page when someone knocked on the door.
Knock Knock
He blinked, and finally realized his daze, and hid the notebook underneath the plethora of paper work. "Come in." He said, part hoping it was that boy (perhaps to give him a piece of his mind), but it was Rinko.
"Care for some tea?"
"Ah." He said, massaging his forehead. "Thank you, Rinko-baasan."
"No problem." She smiled, and placed the cups neatly on the side of the table. Rinko surveyed his work load. "Those seem like a lot. You know, Ryoma could have helped you with that."
"I don't need it, thank you very much."
"Okay, just saying. But I would have preferred him doing school-related things instead of going on a date."
He could only stare at her.
"What you don't know?" She almost gasped, somehow it seemed a bit superficial but he couldn't care any less. That boy was on a bloody date!
His vision, for some reason, was gaining some reddish tint. And unfortunately, Rinko was in the mood to talk about that day, too. "He looked all dressed up and all…" She said with an disconcerting chime in her voice.
"I… see…" Seichi could only huff. "If that's all, then I would appreciate some time alone."
"Oh?"
"Hai." He said firmly and she shrugged.
"Well, don't… hesitate to make me call him back~"
"Hai." He said without looking. "I don't think I'd do that though."
She paused. "I… didn't think you'd be so lenient."
"Lenient? Oh no, I just didn't want to see his face at the moment. No offense."
"…none taken." But he didn't say anything further, and after he heard a small creak of the door, he found himself slumping on his seat. He stared at his work load and perhaps he had already ranted enough to be distracted from annoying thoughts.
But… they said that when one was studying, even the wall was interesting. But Seichi liked studying, and yet the wall looked extremely enticing at the moment. Especially the ceiling… he looked up and felt the feeling of the headrest at the back of his neck.
It was as if the backrest of the chair was absorbing his energy and he found himself blankly staring at the ceiling.
It must have been his lack of sleep lately.
His vision soon blurred, his lids started shutting down, and then there was black.
…
London, 15 years ago
A classical sound of a Sonata echoed across the hall of their slightly above-average house, small fingers gracefully glided through the keyboard, and two adults looked at their offspring with pride.
Yukimura Seichi was three years old. His tiny hands were then doing wanders with his miniature piano. His parents sat beside him, pride filling their dark orbs. His relaxed smile turned into a grin after pressing the last note. His mother clapped demurely while his father patted his head.
"Good job."
"Arigatou, tou-san, kaa-san."
"My child's so talented, no?" the young blunette beamed and stood up to hug his mum's belly, a belly that will contain the newest member of their family. "Happy anniversary, mum, dad!" He yelled, before grinning.
"D'aww…" His father said and his mother chuckled before patting his head.
After a while, they finally stood up and Seichi was getting ready to bid them goodbye for anniversary date. But then his father leaned down to his level and grinned. "I want to buy you new pieces."
Seichi blinked.
"Want to come to our date?"
"Eh? Shouldn't you two be alone though, Dad?" He tilted his head in wonder. The man was muttering something like 'too cute!' and looked at his wife who nodded in agreement.
"I can?" he asked again, just to make sure. They nodded, and once again he embraced his parents like no tomorrow.
…
They were in their humble car, which was proudly almost theirs. Seichi was hearing something about an 'installment' and soon it will be theirs. He was sitting at the back with his parents up front, and they were chatting about random things when his mother suddenly turned to him and smiled.
"Did you know, Seichi? Close friends of ours gave birth to a beautiful girl a few months back. You should meet her Seichi~"
Seichi didn't register that sly, anticipating, smirk behind the smile and only beamed back. "Okay." And his father let out an amused chuckle.
Soon, they stopped over at the music store. Seichi excitedly ran to inside the shop and his mother came close after him. His father was slightly left behind as he still needed to finish the locking the very manual car. Seichi, realizing he had been rudely excited to leave his father behind turned back watched his father walk towards the door through the shop's window curtain.
But for some reason, a bad feeling overcame his stomach.
BAM!
He heard tons of screams and gasps, even when he was inside the store. Things literally just swept by, too quickly to register everything. Later he would find out that it was a motorcycle in a rush, using the sidewalk to escape from officers.
And that his father was in the way.
He stood there frozen, and blankly watched as his father laid there bleeding. Many people came rushing to him, and he turned his head when he heard a loud 'thump' beside him.
"Kaa-san?"
He saw blood inside the shop as well, and it was coming out of his. Seichi fainted, but those memories will remain engraved in his head.
And at three…? Childhood amnesia kicks in.
That would be the oldest memory he would ever remember.
…
13 Years Ago
His father's short term memory was affected, so his mother was always with him. The accident affected greatly his subiculum. But for some miracle, more efficiency was given to the other parts of the brain. The doctors said it was truly unbelievable for his father to improve so much in other areas. As if some information could enter long-term memory immediately, while he forget many supposedly banal things in life a second after they occurred.
Their already growing business boomed by then, thanks to that odd ability. And yes, Seichi did understand that, albeit rudimentarily, at the young age of five.
One day, his father had a business speech and his mother sat behind the crowd. Seichi, who was beside her, watched the crowd and soon saw kids who looked like siblings. He asked why he never had one as soon as he got close to them.
"Why?" He voiced out again. He knew his first sibling was never born, he disintegrated and became the blood that came out of his mother. He didn't exactly want a sibling though, in all honestly, he was really just curious.
His mother only smiled before leaning down for a whisper. "God wants us to focus on you."
"Is that fair?"
"If he thinks so then it is." She looked at the pillar of the house, making his speech in front his idiot board only containing the pertinent information that could not be stored in his short-term memory.
"Be a good child to your father, okay, Seichi?"
"Hai!"
…
10 Years ago
A good child, he became—someone everyone associated with him will be proud of. That was then his purpose. And occasionally, when his mother needed some rest, he was the one to accompany his father to make up for the loss of his short term memory.
"So… we will build this building on this part of land."
"Why are we going to put it so far in the road?" His father asked the Architect. Seichi looked at them and quickly remembered.
"Father… when a large landscaping was mentioned, you seemed to like the idea so they decided to put the large building far from the road."
"I see…"
And business carried on.
After that, they decided to take a walk. Exercise seemed to be one of the things his father must not fail to do. At the age of eight, he followed his father's every move and ensured he was safe. But they came across two… girls? They looked like men, and soon a few other men-looking men approached them and kicked them from behind. They laughed as the men-women shouted in indignity.
The mean men then walked away laughing, avoiding the women's lethal handbags along the way. Soon the two men-women stomped away.
"Why were they bullied?" He found it weird and mean, but still.
"They are called gay people, child. They are shunned by society." His father said apathetically, he would probably forget even having this conversation. "They are humiliated."
Humiliated…
"Isn't that unfair?"
"It was their choice to be what they are, son. They reaped what they sow."
Seichi frowned. People, individuals, of his culture were much too deeply associated with their family names. Were these people so selfish as to bring their family shame?
Seichi frowned. Gay people—they are disgusting, shameful, and selfish.
But then… several angles and expressions, made by a single face, occupied the screen his mind made.
He opened his eyes abruptly.
He frowned. His dreams usually ended up with the accident, rarely did it went beyond that. He must have been too used to it already that he could go beyond it.
Nevertheless, that face. It bothered him. He wouldn't even go to the thought that he'd seen Ryoma's face in his dreams to the point it was more than abnormal.
That boy…
His fist clenched. How many days had passed since he found Ryoma doing things behind his back. It was so intolerably disconcerting he really wanted to consider firing that troublesome boy.
Troublesome.
Really, it felt like Ryoma was doing the opposite of his job description. Being unreasonable, being moody, being puzzling, being disconcerting…, making him feel worried. It seemed even his 'diary' was of no help this time.
He frowned and found himself palming his face.
Darn him.
But then still not moving, instead of feeling fully awake from his dream. His eyes soon shut once again…,
Just to see those faces once more.
.
END OF CHAPTER XII
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER XIII: Space Land
REPLIES TO ANGELS
Shanagi95- Gahahah. Who knows... perhaps he just likes to... smirk? xD And you'll see their match soon! I didn't put it in the prev. chap since it felt a little... early, I guess. Haha. Thand you for the comment, by the way~! :D
deadlycute17- Maybe he will, maybe he won't. Who knooows~ Nyahhahaha. ButI'll probably keep the serious-for-Ryoma men limited in number tho. A big harem didn't quite fare well with my other Fem!Ryoma . Thx for the review!
BrokenBlckCat- Yes, the date will probably be a disaster! *Cackles* And Seichi forfeited because it... wasn't the right time? loooool. And yay for girl's clothes! Ahahaha Thanks for the comment, btw~!
xDarkxKurokox- Indeed! I'm a cap/pillar pair fan cuz they are just PERFECT! Haha. And yes he will be one of Sei-chan's biggest rivals. *cackles* I dunno if Niou'll listen to your threat though. LOL. Thanks for the review~!
ChocoMickey- Seichi will find out... soon. Nyahahaha. And yes, Niou is very kind. xD *Smirks* And, of course,thank you for your review! ;DD
PurpleScorpion- You're back! *hugs* Ahaha. But nooooo- nothing shall be impossible! hahah. Seichi shall redeem himself... someday... somehow. Looool. But mah, I do get how much lovable Niou and Sanada are compared to Seichi tho ahaha. Seichi-the-douchebag is quite the challenge. xD Thx for the review~!
Natasya Ivashkov- Perhaps 2 to 4 chapters. Not sure yet, so I'll just do my best to make the wait for the grand revelation to be worth it. Lololol. Thanks for the comment, btw~!
TunaForDessert- Gyahhaa. I killed you again? Who shall I force to CPR you now? *grin* I'm glad you liked the decision of delaying the match! And you're right, it'll kill the appeal by half. xD And... how could I not make them run into other regulars? *Cackles* Thanks for the review~! D
FudoYuki- But at least you are here now. xD Thanks for the review~! And glad you thought its getting complicated in a good way! haha. Hope I'll keep it up since it will get even more complicated, albeit I'm not sure if they're good lol. Thx for the review!
DragonFire Princes- Here it is~! And barely a week after the last update too! *very very proud* And thank you for the revieeww! xD
JigokuTenshi834- Hahaha. Yay for the trickster~! 3 And I agree, poor Ryoma. Life's getting complicated for her. Thanks for the comment, btw~!
0539Sg- Thank you for the review~ And you will soon. In a few chapters (I hope) we will see more and more and more YukiRyo moments. xD
DawnStarLight- hahaha. Why do you say though? lol. I'll call Niou and you shall give him a hug. lololol. Thanks for the comment!
MintLeafeon- EH? You wanted to kill Niou? ahaha. And here's the very quick update~! *super proud* Thank you for the revieewww~! xDD
o0Violetphoenix0o- They do? How could they overlook the super awesome Niou? Trololol. And yes! Ryoma could look so pretty in girl's clothes~ It'll be a shame not to let anyone else see. *cackles* Thanks for the review~
Yuki Masaharu- Thank you for the review and here it is! Kya~ Ahahaha. Oh, and I estimate he'll find out in 3 or 4 chapters. Hehe.
kikumarucat- Yukimura smirked because he was relieved she wasn't going with Sanada. xD And I shall not say anything else about the date. Nyahhaha. Thanks for the comment~!
WhitewingsFlutter- Gyahahha. You can do it! Draw Yukimura the douchebag. He'll look pretty no matter how much he's brooding. lolololol. Thank you for comment, by the way~! xD
Flickering Hope- Glad I surprised you then, whatever I did. Ahahaha. Thank you for the comment~! xD
Zwolftd- Gehee. I hope this chap cleared things up for what is keeping Seichi back~ Ryoma'll come after. Perhaps after a few more chaps. Ahahaha. Thank you for the comment!
FranscoiseLaraLapis- Ryoma'll notice... eventually...when the complication level is not 9000. Hahahha. And yeah... Niou's super bored. He'd be both great and bad as a for the review~!
xXRandomnessPrevailsXx- I did? That's awesome! In any case, it was an adorable story tho. ;) And hahahah.I love MArui and love making him the comic relief chara. Trololol. And most of what's holding Seichi back is revealed/hinted in this chapter already, hope it was enough. xD Btw, Yuki PMS worse than Ryoma. LOL. And... shall we hug Sanada together? Haha. Oh,and thanks for the review~!
DigimonLoveForever- I'm glad you like the inclusion of Niou~! Hehe. He's just so lovable in a different way, no? xD And thank you for the review~!
Guest [1/28/12]- Yukimura shall find out in more or less 3-4 chaps... I hope. Not sure if I'll ever tell Akaya. hahahaha. Poor kid. xDD Thanks for the comment, btw! :D
Darkspider- indeed, wait til' he finds out...in a few chapters. Loooool. And yes, they're such kids! But... mostly Ryoma and Seichi aren't ready to enter the sacred space we call the tennis courts for a game together just yet~xD Glad I managed to keep her IC, too, esp. in the all-important matches. And this seems to be extending to a long story..., thanks to the awesome support you people give .
...
Thank you for reading~!
But it would be so awesome if you pause for a few more minutes...,
And let me know your thoughts? :D